The series of 25, five-minute web-isodes for the Topps company debuts next month, and the Sklars agreed to give us a peak at one of the first ones (shown following the jump). Randy Sklar talked with me by phone about the project, a portion of that interview also below. But about the video: You should know that the term "Sweet Mullet of Gaetti" will be invoked, and there will also be hairdressing tips. Come join me; I've got the beer.

Here ya go. This is an excerpt — about half of a full episode — and the picture quality will be better over at the Topps site. But Randy Johnson's facial features come through nice and clearly.

It may have seemed an odd move when former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and his Tornate Co. bought out Topps last year. Much like the comic book industry, baseball cards hit a peak in popularity in the mid 1990s, before the bubble burst in 2000 or so; companies such as Fleer and SkyBox closing shop for good. But Eisner, as one might expect, has a strategy.

Enter the Sklars, whose Back on Topps follows the fictional Topps brothers, heirs to the Topps card fortune who are muscled to the sidelines at the last minute and are struggling to, well, get back on top. It's one of several web series that Eisner has in production, this particular one an attempt to revitalize the card industry by reaching beyond sports.

"This is meant to be something much more than simply a commercial for Topps, and hopefully we've accomplished that," said Randy Sklar, a St. Louis native and University of Michigan graduate, as is his brother. "When we pitched it, we said that we wanted to do a Web series that took shows like Cheap Seats and The Brackets and encompassed all of that.

"The Topps brothers are just basically fuckups who love cards, love sports and are passionate about it," he said. "They love the little things in sports, and are scrambling to get back on top."

A big component of the show will be athlete cameos; with appearances by everyone from Kevin Love, Russell Martin, Matt Holliday and Baron Davis to Dennis Rodman.

"The Topps guys are just amazing," Randy said. "We're supposed to have Greg Oden tomorrow. Agents are really aware of us now and really want to get their clients on. Topps has so many people under contract, that they just call us and ask 'Who do you need?' Everyone's been great."

It's one thing to get athletes to show up, but it's quite another to know what to do with them. As always, the Sklars seem to have a handle on it.

"One seven-episode arc in the middle of the series involves our quest to get Julio Franco back in the game," Randy said. "Franco invented this energy drink, and he drank half of it and grouted his bathroom tiles with the other half."

Eisner is in the series as himself — although played by an actor — and there will be guest appearances by Ed Helms and Phil Morris (Jackie Childs from Seinfeld), among others.

"We wanted to create a pure comedy, something that starts with a web site and could eventually go to television," he said. "But the immediate goal is to introduce cards to a new generation. That's Michael's vision."

Oh, Sklars [Deadspin]

The brothers did a phoner with the Riverfront Times to promote their new endeavor and the question, "What other sports blogs do you read?" was asked.

Jason: Those sites tend to be a little – harsh.
Randy: I like the writing i hate the posting. It's sometimes hard to put a piece of original content on.
Randy: I think it'd be the perfect thing for Deadspin. That blog once put up a post about us that was ''Sklars: Funny or Not?'' which kind of set us up for failure from the get-go.

Well, unfortunately, the "Back On Topps" webisodes are not available just yet, but I'm certain the Deadspin readership would be more than willing to give their open and honest opinions about them once they become available.

Q & A With St. Louis' Jason And Randy Sklar [Riverfront Times]

Our own poll was frustratingly inconclusive on their comedic skills, but ESPN thinks enough of the Sklar brothers to be talking with them toward developing a new project with the network. Their previous show, "Cheap Seats," in which the brothers — Randy and Jason — played fictional tape librarians who mock network sports clips, was canceled last year after a three-year run on ESPN Classic.

"We miss the show, yeah," said Randy Sklar. "ESPN gave us a fantastic opportunity for which we're really grateful. It was the best process to be able to create a show and not have to go through 27 different filters to get it on the air. We just met with the producers there, pitched our idea and they're like, 'OK, let's do it.' Anyone who has worked with the studios in Hollywood, as we have, knows that that's really rare. Hollywood gives you so many ways to fail."

So what now? The Sklars can't go into detail about their new ESPN project except to say that it will probably be on ESPN-1, or "the mother ship," as they call it. Until then they wander the countryside, lost and a bit confused, knowing that there are sports stories ripe for mocking for which they have no outlet.

"Every time we see a spelling bee, it makes us sad," said Jason of the former Cheap Seats staple. "And of course professional wrestling. And we really never got around to Barbaro. The people who write him letters, just strange. I just kind of wish that people had the same compassion for people in wars that they have for a horse. Granted, I love animals, but let's get real."

"I've always wanted to see a Barbaro episode of Grey's Anatomy," Randy said. " 'Fuck you, Barbaro! I'm in operating room one!' 'Dr. Wilson wants that horse out of this hospital!' 'No! There'll be letters! Those Barbaro fans are crazy!' 'We've got to save that hoof, Dr. O'Malley!' My God, it's laminitis! We want operating room one, goddamn it!'

"I think that would be great."

The Sklars are also working on a Cheap Seats DVD which should be in stores in the near future. Barbaro, meanwhile, was beaten by Invasor for 3-year-old Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards on Monday. Bastards.

Invasor Beats Barbaro For Horse Of Year [MSNBC]
Sklar Brothers Poll Maddeningly Inconclusive [Deadspin]

Anyway, apparently in this week's "Cheap Seats" — we didn't watch it, naturally — the Sklar brothers slipped in a dig at Simmons, posting his picture and alerting other ESPN employees "not to lend tapes to his person." An understated, kind of limp joke, but the photo still they chose has to make it worthwhile.

Cheap Seats, Cheap Shots [En-Dash]
So Are The Sklar Brothers Funny, Or Not? [Deadspin]

In an interview on comedy site A Special Thing, the brothers address Simmons' apparent dislike of them.

Look, we've really tried to take the high road on this topic and just not engage for a number of reasons. ... The crazy thing is, we've never met the guy. So we don't know for sure if he really hates us. All we can go by is what we've read in his column. And he has taken many shots at us and Cheap Seats in the three years that we've been on the air at ESPN Classic.

Now if we had gone after him on our show, and he was responding, that's one thing. But his rips are totally unprovoked, which signals to us, as well as to some of his own readers, that he's jealous. The bummer of it all is this: we feel like many people who read his column and enjoy his humor, would also enjoy Cheap Seats. And now they won't watch because he's telling them not to.

In the past, we might have put together a poll as to who would win in a fight, but the notion of these guys fighting makes us long for Tonya Harding matches.

Interview With The Sklar Brothers [A Special Thing]
Sklar Brothers Poll Maddeningly Inconclusive [Deadspin]

All we wanted to know was whether or not we should be watching the Sklar brothers or not, since people talk about them occasionally and we'd never seen the show. Well, if the results are to be believed, we know less than we did before. Out of 5,742 total votes, 1,738 said the Sklar brothers are funny ... and 1,744 people — only six more — said they suck. That's, like, a Florida margin. Of course, the real winner was "Who are the Sklar brothers?" That number was 2,269 people, the runaway victor. Which is probably worse than people thinking they suck.

Full results below.

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We ask in all seriousness: We really don't know. We've never actually watched their ESPN Classic show "Cheap Seats," not because it looks dumb or anything, just because, frankly, we watch enough of that network as is, thank you very much, and are pretty much full by the time "Cheap Seats" is on. We saw them on a "Law & Order," and we thought the special they did a while back on Jose Oquendo was moderately amusing — they're Cardinals fans, which is certainly a check in their corner — but honestly, that's the extent of our knowledge. We have no idea. But few people inspire a more fevered reaction among our demographic, we've found, than these two, and since we haven't watched the show, we're not sure why.

So we thought we'd just put it to you: Do the Sklar Brothers suck? Or are they funny? We just want to know. So we can finally get this settled.

The poll is below. Results tomorrow.

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